Marrying biblical heft with the particular bonds between mothers
and daughters (as well as moms' noble sacrifices), Anita
Diamant's best-seller "The Red Tent" is a perfect ht for
Lifetime, conceptually speaking, and it's been turned into a
handsome melodrama, starring Rebecca Ferguson ("The White
Queen"), who doubles as narrator of her woe-filled tale. Literary
in tone and shot with considerable scope in Morocco, the first half of
this four-hour miniseries proves stronger than the second, but by then
viewers should be firmly invested in the story, which, by moving women
front and center, cleverly redresses the Bible's male-oriented
tilt.

"My name means nothing to you. My memory is dust,"
Ferguson's Dinah tells us in voiceover at the outset, signaling the
focus of what's to come.

Spanning decades, Diamant's twist on the Old Testament begins
by shifting the emphasis from Jacob ("Game of Thrones'"
Iain Glen) to his four wives, including Dinah's mother Leah (Minnie
Driver) and Rachel (Morena Baccarin), who passes on her knowledge of
midwifery to the girl. Having blessed Jacob with nearly a dozen sons,
including the visionary Joseph (Will Tudor), the women convene under a
red tent, where they share sororal ties and rituals with each other, as
well as with the strong-willed Dinah.

Forced to flee from his land of Canaan, Jacob decides to return
home, where Dinah is schooled by her grandmother (Debra Winger). Soon,
though, she catches the eye of a prince, yielding unexpected and tragic
consequences due to the jealousy of her other brothers toward the dreamy
Joseph, whom their father dotes on and regularly turns to for counsel.

The tide of those events sets Dinah adrift in part two, though as
adapted by Elizabeth Chandler and Anne Meredith and directed by Roger
Young, it's clear there's no escaping her tumultuous past.
Certainly, "The Red Tent" brims with big flourishes--revenge,
betrayal, heartbreak--and embroidered narration ("From that moment
on, her heart was his"), but barring a few and patches, the quality
casting and unabashed emotion bring it satisfyingly home.

Despite the recognizable names, much of the project's appeal
can be attributed to the Swedish-born Ferguson, who with her earlier
Starz showcase, now has two solid miniseries under her belt.

In pragmatic terms, the biblical setting provides an arresting
backdrop for soapy material that otherwise falls squarely in
Lifetime's wheelhouse. And while the network is unlikely to rival
sister channel History's success with "The Bible,"
between the book's devotees and the subject matter, one suspects
this fairly sizable bet on "The Red Tent" will leave the
network in the black.